Microsoft cuts HD content playback from 32 bit Vista
08.24.06 - 01:05pm
When Vista/Longhorn was first announced their feature sets were huge with so many innovative technologies being incorporated into this new operating system. Unfortunately from the start Microsoft began cutting features left and right in an attempt to get the product out the door. In yet another blow to Vista and the consumer, Microsoft has cut support in 32-bit versions of Vista to play back HD content. Too bad this time around it wasn’t an issue of time but of corporate pressure.
The recording industry has been pushing DRM(digital rights management) to keep consumers from pirating and sharing their digital investments. Within the 32-bit Vista kernel environment there are many loopholes and backdoors through which crafty coders can go about bypassing all DRM software and rip perfect digital copies of material sans DRM. Due to these concerns and attempts to make the new wave of HD content non-pirate-able, the recording industry asked Microsoft to cut HD playback. What this means to us, the consumers, is that you must either have a 64-bit copy of Windows which means having 64-bit hardware, or you will have to go out and watch your movies on an HD DVD player. For most hardware enthusiasts the 64-bit requirement won’t be a hassle as most of us have jumped onto the 64-bit train with much excitement but you have to remember Bubba Joe down the street that just bought his new Dell system featuring a 32 bit Celeron and 256MB of ram.
Besides the uneducated consumer not being capable of enjoying HD content, you also have the software driver issues in regards to 64-bit operating systems. Basically hardware that doesn’t have 64-bit drivers available will not work within a 64-bit environment. So that awesome Voodoo5 video card that you have will most likely not be capable of running within 64-bit Vista without a driver update which isn’t happening anytime soon. While I used an obsolete video card as an example, the point is that by excluding 32-bit Vista from playing HD content you keep anyone who has a pre-64-bit OEM machine from being capable of playing HD content. For that matter I won’t be able to play HD content in Vista on my brand spanking new Macbook because it uses a 32-bit Core Duo processor.
While the issue of upgrading to 64 bit shouldn’t be too much of an issue as most OEM computers support 64-bit processors, the issue will lie with the millions of older 32-bit machines that still populate the majority of large public facilities, houses, and businesses. Thank you Microsoft for caving in to the recording industry, perhaps they should just remove HD playback from 64-bit Vista while they are at it as you know the DRM within 64-bit Vista will be compromised within 24 hours.
Chricky, this is looking more and more like a pretty version of XP which was a pretty version of 2000. Can anyone actually point out what new featuers I’m going to get with Vista that are of any tangible use to me ? Other than the virgin network stack that is full of the same mistakes, holes and back doors that they had all the way back in 98.
At times like this, it becomes harder and harder to justify considering the upgrade of using Windows Vista, even if I have got it hemmed in Parallels on my MacBook Pro.
Well it has come to my attention that the senior program manager Steve Riley made a huge blunder yesterday in saying that 32-bit verions of Vista will not be capable of playing HD content. A quick release from the Windows Vista Team Blog tries to inform people that Microsoft isn’t cutting HD playback support however HD content manufacturers will have the ability to limit playback to the Vista versions they approve of through DRM software. Mark, I agree with what you are saying, it really looks like Microsoft is trying to slap a pretty interface over Windows XP. The only thing I’ve seen that is interesting that is still going to launch with Vista is the native OpenGL support. Looks like we are going to be doubling the ram requirements for the operating system and not improving the user inferface by much.